That's right, Levi was preparing for fair fishing and law enforcement, and what he was fishing for was Luskan's deep-diving ghost pirate ship.

Of course, there are many pirate ships in the Sword Coast, and their ownerships are also very different. Many pirate ships are even guest ships from other merchant ships.

But none of this mattered to Levi.

As for pirate ships, just come and rob one by one.

Anyway, he is worried that his own boat is not enough. Even if he dismantles it, he can save some materials. If it doesn't work, he can still sell it after rest.

Going all the way south, you can always encounter Luskan's new pirate ship... right?

Just kidding, although there are many pirate ships floating on the Sword Coast, they are not enough to encounter several pirate ships in one trip, otherwise the merchants in the North would be a sea of ​​hammers.

Generally speaking, pirates are single-masted or double-masted small and medium-sized ships with average combat effectiveness.

Therefore, they are also good at picking targets to rob, and it is normal for them to bully the weak and fear the strong.

And when they see the warships of city-states from various countries, they will even run away.

But when they occasionally collect information on high-value targets, they tend to... swarm in!

This is what Li Wei plans to take advantage of.

To a certain extent, organizations such as pirates also promoted the survival of the fittest in maritime trade in disguise and accelerated the evolution of sea-going ships.

Businesses that can last for a long time usually have two skills.

Either they have a strong background and have strong financial resources that no one dares to provoke, such as the Xialan Chamber of Commerce.

Their merchant ship models have always been at the forefront of the Northland. Ordinary pirate ships would probably be frightened when faced with a thousand-ton four-masted triangular galleon with two or three decks and double-digit magic ballistae.

Either she has an outstanding advantage in some aspect, like Kaimei, the Queen of the Sword Coast Alyssa.

According to the information Levi learned on the road, Alyssa was able to further develop and expand the family's maritime trade and become one of the most trusted transporters on the Sword Coast.

The main reason lies in the background and connections her father created when he spent a lot of money to send her to the Jishui City Magic Academy.

If you are an ordinary person, at most you can just use your resume to find a relatively decent job in the academy, or use it to marry some down-and-out nobles who need to be gilded by a 'magician'.

But Alyssa's talent in magic was extremely outstanding. Later, she became the apprentice of the half-elf warlock Kevin, activated her blood talent, and became the most dazzling magic genius in the Jishui City Magic Academy.

This is the 'goddess' that many mages in Jishui City longed for when they were young.

With this level of resume, coupled with her usually generous and generous person, it was not easy for Alyssa to recruit a mage after she took over the family's maritime trading industry from Old John after graduation.

Other maritime merchants asked Grandpa to tell Grandma to spend a lot of money to win over the "Master" who promised to sail for free for life. In front of Alyssa, it was like the ladies in some clubs lining up in a long queue for you to choose.

And because Alyssa has always insisted on sharing 20% ​​of her trading profits with these 'classmates' and 'underclassmen', she also did what her mentor Kevin donated to Minas Tirith Academy in her early years.

He donated a large amount of money to Jishui City Magic Academy to build a research facility building for maritime ship research, which instantly became famous.

Therefore, Alyssa's John Maritime Trading Chamber has become one of the choices of some mages from the Magic Academy in Kishui City.

Professionals such as mages, especially energy evocation mages and illusion mages who have become popular with light and shadow dramas in recent years, are comparable to strategic weapons in naval battles.

As Levi expected, Iger chose the latter without hesitation.

Just as the group of people walked around the shipyard again, Iger came back and reported to Li Wei:

"I have used magic communication to contact Miss Alyssa from the John Chamber of Commerce. She expressed her willingness to cooperate with our operation this time. However, her ship has just set off from Silvermoon City and is not expected to arrive until dawn tomorrow.

She said that if our action is urgent, she can directly mobilize the merchant ships in Kaishui City for our travel."

While Levi was pondering, Kevin on the side couldn't help but asked eagerly: "But Alyssa told me before that her father was seriously ill and she needed to accompany him back to Silver Moon City to recuperate. Could it be..."

Ige glanced at him and said: "Old John from the John Chamber of Commerce has passed away. He passed away just yesterday when he returned to his ancestral home in Silver Moon City."

Kevin looked slightly dazed. Did the kind old man who patted his hand affectionately on the deck and entrusted his daughter to him just... pass away?

Then Alyssa... must be very sad.

"Miss Alyssa followed her father's instructions and planned to bury his ashes at sea, so I suggested that we stay in Kaishui City for a day.

"First of all, Miss Alyssa is an expert who has been sailing on the Sword Coast for more than ten years. Her navigation experience and knowledge of pirates far exceed all of us here.

"Secondly, during this period, we can also continue to renovate the new ships for travel.

"Since His Majesty Levis plans to test the quality of the Luskan Ghost Pirate Ship, I think it would be better to test our new ships together?"

Iger's eyes fell back on his lord, "But what kind of plan to use, please leave your Majesty Levis to make a decision."

"Modify the battleship? Could it be that you took advantage of my sleeping time to prepare a surprise for me?" Levi couldn't help but look forward to it.

Iger and Calvin looked at each other, and the latter smiled and said to the person in charge of the shipyard: "Show it, our lord can't wait."

"Do your will."

The person in charge of the shipyard bowed to everyone and said to the No. 7 Zuotang Shipyard: "Open the curtain."

A squeaking sound.

As the curtain opened, a huge silver ship came into view.

Lucifer and Kevin, the pseudo-mother and daughter, could not help but open their red lips and exclaimed in disbelief:

"Ironclad ship? How is this possible!"

Yes, what caught everyone's eyes was a giant steel beast made of steel and iron.

For these two elf warlocks, how could iron objects float on the sea?

This almost peaked their three views.

"Good guys, did you really make this thing?"

On the contrary, Fisher, who has worked with Iger for many years, was not too shocked by this.

What was wrong with the iron ships floating on the sea? He also knew that he had seen magic ships floating in the sky in the Netherese Notes collected by Ig.

"Is this the trump card you are going to use to deal with the Luskan Ghost Battleship?" Levi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows slightly.

"It's not a trump card. The two sides have never fought each other, so I don't know how effective this magic armored ship will be against its ghost pirate ships. All results can only be known in practice and actual combat."

Ige remained as humble as ever and continued to introduce:

"Moreover, the current ship is not entirely made of steel. Its main material is still wood, but the outer layer is covered with steel armor.

"The reason why they are covered with steel armor is that we can clearly see from the naval battle data collected over the years that wooden warships are too fragile and powerless under the bombardment of increasingly powerful alchemy artillery and magic ballistae.

"And since our steam locomotives are widely sold in the North, the principle of steam engines is not a difficult principle to crack in front of the mages of various city-states.

"So I boldly predict that ironclad ships powered by steam or magic are the direction of future development, and with the development of magic technology and shipbuilding industry, they will gradually replace the status of sail battleships.

"For example, this prototype ironclad ship is 120 feet in length, 63 feet in width, and has a displacement of 1,800 tons. There are ten magic ballistae and fifty alchemy cannons on each side of the ship.

.

"Since there are no extra masts and it relies entirely on magic-powered water wheels for propulsion, theoretically fire attacks below intermediate level magic will not do much damage to it."

"Very good, very good." Everyone, including Li Wei, could only nod in appreciation.

Even though Levi was somewhat mentally prepared, he still didn't expect that the other party would come up with an ironclad ship so quickly before he could give any hints. This kind of ship evolution is also a milestone in another world.

.

Li Wei had no doubts about the dominance of ironclad ships on the ocean.

In another world, France built the world's first battleship with a steam engine as an auxiliary power device - the "Napoleon", which became a pioneer of naval steam-powered battleships.

Then to the Crimean War, steam battleships established their important dominance in the modern naval fleet. After that, on the basis of steam battleships, steam ironclads with steel armor began to appear, and France built the world's first steam battleship.

Ironclads, the first ironclad showdown occurred during the Citizen Civil War.

From its emergence to its quest to become the new overlord of the ocean, it only took thirteen years.

But the only thing that makes him a little uncertain now is how the magical factors in this world will affect this process and the "food chain" of ocean ships?

Just when he had a question, Fisher suddenly raised his hand and asked:

"I have a question. Can such a piece of iron-clad wood withstand the impact of those deep-diving ghost ships?"

Everyone couldn't help but look at Ige again.

"Regarding this issue, I still rely on my previous point of view. I have not experienced actual combat and cannot make completely correct inferences. However, if we only use the current data as a guide, there is a high probability that the defense will be breached."

Hearing this answer, Fisher couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

But at this moment, I heard Ige continue: "I have also considered the design of an iron-clad iron-hulled ship before, but the ship of this plan is too heavy and slow. With our current immature magic power,

If you don't learn, you can only fall into the embarrassing situation of being passively beaten.

“However, we have adopted the design of an independent sealed compartment, so even if there are a few holes in the bilge, it will not affect the safety of the ship.

"For these deep-submersible ghost ships, our Battle Mage Group has also proposed several general designs."

"Oh?" Levi couldn't help but get excited.

Eagle continued: "First of all, the biggest threat to Luskan's deep-submersible ghost ships lies in their stealth.

"Many merchant ships on the Sword Coast were often unprepared and were hit in the vital points or even broken by the horns of pirate ships.

"We have also thought of many ways to do this, but relying solely on traditional prophecy is somewhat unrealistic.

“In the end it was Calvin’s Kingdom Suit that inspired us.”
To be continued...